The difference between Brief and Short

When used as nouns, brief means a writ summoning one to answer to any action, whereas short means a short circuit.

When used as adverbs, brief means briefly, whereas short means abruptly, curtly, briefly.

When used as verbs, brief means to summarize a recent development to some person with decision-making power, whereas short means to cause a short circuit in (something).

When used as adjectives, brief means of short duration, whereas short means having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.

Short is also preposition with the meaning: deficient in.

check bellow for the other definitions of Brief and Short

  1. Brief as an adjective:

    Of short duration; happening quickly.

    Examples:

    "Her reign was brief but spectacular."

  2. Brief as an adjective:

    Concise; taking few words.

    Examples:

    "His speech of acceptance was brief but moving."

  3. Brief as an adjective:

    Occupying a small distance, area or spatial extent; short.

    Examples:

    "Her skirt was extremely brief but doubtless cool."

  4. Brief as an adjective (obsolete):

    Rife; common; prevalent.

  1. Brief as a noun (legal):

    A writ summoning one to answer to any action.

  2. Brief as a noun (legal):

    An answer to any action.

  3. Brief as a noun (legal):

    A memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case.

  4. Brief as a noun (by extension, figurative):

    A position of interest or advocacy.

  5. Brief as a noun (legal):

    An attorney's legal argument in written form for submission to a court.

  6. Brief as a noun (English law):

    The material relevant to a case, delivered by a solicitor to the barrister who tries the case.

  7. Brief as a noun:

    A short news story or report.

  8. Brief as a noun (usually, plural):

    undershorts briefs.

    Examples:

    "I wear boxers under trousers but for sports I usually wear a brief."

  9. Brief as a noun (obsolete):

    A summary, précis or epitome; an abridgement or abstract.

  10. Brief as a noun (UK, historical):

    A letter patent, from proper authority, authorizing a collection or charitable contribution of money in churches, for any public or private purpose.

  11. Brief as a noun:

    (slang) A ticket of any type.

  1. Brief as a verb (transitive):

    To summarize a recent development to some person with decision-making power.

    Examples:

    "The U.S. president was briefed on the military coup and its implications on African stability."

  2. Brief as a verb (transitive, legal):

    To write a legal argument and submit it to a court.

  1. Brief as an adverb (obsolete, poetic):

    Briefly.

  2. Brief as an adverb (obsolete, poetic):

    Soon; quickly.

  1. Short as an adjective:

    Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.

  2. Short as an adjective (of a person):

    Of comparatively little height.

  3. Short as an adjective:

    Having little duration; opposite of long.

    Examples:

    "Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it's been at least twenty minutes long."

  4. Short as an adjective (followed by '''for'''):

    Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).

    Examples:

    "“Phone” is short for “telephone” and "asap" short for "as soon as possible"."

  5. Short as an adjective (cricket, of a [[fielder]] or fielding [[position]]):

    that is relatively close to the batsman.

  6. Short as an adjective (cricket, of a ball):

    that bounced relatively far from the batsman.

  7. Short as an adjective (golf, of an approach shot or putt):

    that falls short of the green or the hole.

  8. Short as an adjective (of pastries and metals):

    Brittle, crumbly, especially due to the use of too much shortening.

  9. Short as an adjective:

    Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.

    Examples:

    "He gave a short answer to the question."

  10. Short as an adjective:

    Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.

    Examples:

    "a short supply of provisions"

  11. Short as an adjective:

    Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking.

    Examples:

    "to be short of money"

    "The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift."

  12. Short as an adjective:

    Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.

    Examples:

    "an account which is short of the truth"

  13. Short as an adjective (obsolete):

    Not distant in time; near at hand.

  14. Short as an adjective:

    Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.

    Examples:

    "I'm short General Motors because I think their sales are plunging."

  1. Short as an adverb:

    Abruptly, curtly, briefly.

    Examples:

    "They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street."

    "He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting."

    "The boss got a message and cut the meeting short."

  2. Short as an adverb:

    Unawares.

    Examples:

    "The recent developments at work caught them short."

  3. Short as an adverb:

    Without achieving a goal or requirement.

    Examples:

    "His speech fell short of what was expected."

  4. Short as an adverb (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a [[cricket ball]]):

    Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.

  5. Short as an adverb (finance):

    With a negative ownership position.

    Examples:

    "We went short most finance companies in July."

  1. Short as a noun:

    A short circuit.

  2. Short as a noun:

    A short film.

  3. Short as a noun:

    Examples:

    "38 short suits fit me right off the rack."

    "Do you have that size in a short."

  4. Short as a noun (baseball):

    A shortstop.

    Examples:

    "Jones smashes a grounder between third and short."

  5. Short as a noun (finance):

    A short seller.

    Examples:

    "The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne."

  6. Short as a noun (finance):

    A short sale.

    Examples:

    "He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months."

  7. Short as a noun:

    A summary account.

  8. Short as a noun (phonetics):

    A short sound, syllable, or vowel.

  9. Short as a noun (programming):

    An having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.

  1. Short as a verb (transitive):

    To cause a short circuit in (something).

  2. Short as a verb (intransitive):

    Of an electrical circuit, to short circuit.

  3. Short as a verb (transitive):

    To shortchange.

  4. Short as a verb (transitive):

    To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.

    Examples:

    "This is the third time I've caught them shorting us."

  5. Short as a verb (transitive, business):

    To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.

  6. Short as a verb (obsolete):

    To shorten.

  1. Short as a preposition:

    Deficient in.

    Examples:

    "We are short a few men on the second shift."

    "He's short common sense."

  2. Short as a preposition (finance):

    Having a negative position in.

    Examples:

    "I don't want to be short the market going into the weekend."

Compare words:

Compare with synonyms and related words: